PVS vDisk Pool Test

A vDisk is an image file stored on a Provisioning Server or remote storage location, which acts as a hard disk for a target device.

vDisk pools are the collection of all vDisks available to a site. There is only one vDisk pool per site.

For each vDisk in the vDisk pool, this test reports the size, status, and locked duration.

Target of the test : Citrix Provisioning server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : By default, the test reports one set of results for every vDisk in each vDisk pool in the PVS farm being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test
  1. TEST PERIOD – How often should the test be executed
  2. Host – The host for which the test is to be configured
  3. Port – Refers to the port used by the Citrix Provisioning server. By default, this is 54321.

  4. mcli path – This test executes commands using the Management Command Line Interface (MCLI) of the Provisioning server to collect the required metrics. To enable the test to execute the commands, the eG agent, by default, auto-discovers the full path MCLI.exe on the target Provisioning server. This is why, the mcli path is set to none by default. If, for some reason, the eG agent is unable to auto-discover the MCLIpath, then you will have to manually specify the path here using the following pointers:

    • Typically, in a 32-bit Windows system, the MCLI.exe will be available in the following location by default: <System_Root>\Program Files\Citrix\Provisioning Services Console
    • In a 64-bit Windows system on the other hand, the MCLI.exe will be available in the following location by default: <System_Root>\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Provisioning Services Console

  5. domain name, domain user and domain password – To report farm-related metrics, this test should run using the credentials of a user who fulfills the following requirements:

    • Should belong to the Security group with 'Farm Administrator' access.
    • Should be assigned the Allow log on locally security privilege on the Citrix Provisioning Server host.

    The steps for assigning such privileges to a user are detailed in the Pre-requisites for monitoring the Citrix Provisioning Server topic.

    Once you assigned the aforesaid privileges to the user, then configure this test with the domain name, domain user, and domain password of the same user.

  6. local host only - By default, this flag is set to Yes. This implies that, by default, the test reports metrics for the target server that is being monitored. Setting the flag to No ensures that the test auto-discovers all the servers that are part of the PVS farm, and reports metrics for each server in the PVS farm.

  7. detailed diagnosis - To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

    The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

    • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability;
    • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Disk state:

Indicates the current state of this vDisk.

 

If the value of this measure is Active, it indicates that the vDisk is active and can be used by the target devices connected to it. If the value of this measure is Inactive, it implies that the vDisk is not active and hence, cannot be used by the target devices.

vDisk size:

Indicates the size of this vDisk.

GB

Depending upon the file system used to store the vDisk, the maximum size of a vDisk is 2 terabytes (NTFS) or 4096MB (FAT).

Target device connections:

Indicates the number of target devices that are currently connected to this vDisk.

Number

To know the names of the devices that are currently connected to a vDisk, their IP address, the site in which they operate, and the store they use, take the help of the detailed diagnosis of this measure.

Lock status:

Indicates whether this vDisk is currently locked or unlocked.

 

Since multiple target devices and Provisioning Servers can gain access to a single vDisk image file, it is necessary to control access to prevent corruption of the image. Should a user accidentally assign a private image to multiple target devices, and then try to boot those target devices, a corrupt image would result. Therefore, the image becomes locked appropriately for a given configuration.

If a vDisk is locked, then the value of this measure will be Locked. If the lock on a vDisk has been released, then, the value of this measure will be Unlocked.

The numeric values that correspond to the states mentioned above are as follows:

State Numeric Value

Locked

1

Unlocked

0

Note:

By default, this measure reports the values Locked or Unlocked to indicate the lock status of a vDisk. The graph of this measure however, represents the lock status using the numeric equivalents - 0 or 1.

Be aware that under certain circumstances these locks may not be released properly. A lock on a vDisk image may not be released properly when a target device machine is booted from a vDisk, and then fails (or power is lost). If the same target device boots again, the same lock is used and no problem occurs. However, if an administrator tries to mount the drive on the Provisioning Server after the target device has failed, the Provisioning Server will not be able to mount that vDisk because a lock is still held by the failed target device. The Administrator has the capability to release these locks.

Locked duration:

Indicates how long this vDisk has been locked.

Mins

If the value of the Lock status measure is Locked for a vDisk, then you can use this measure to determine the duration for which that vDisk was locked. As long as a vDisk remains locked, target devices for which that vDisk has been assigned will not even be able to boot. Hence, a very low value is desired for this measure.